Category Archives: Postcards 2023

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Puppies and dogs, and who owns who

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“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.” Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

It’s been a grey, wet, windy day here, but made so much brighter for us by family … and a puppy.

We’ve had visits from two puppies recently, both only a few months old, with teeth sharp as razors, and bodies wriggling with happiness and curiosity. They’ve padded and explored, tested and tasted, chewed and chased.

Now they are gone, and the house settles back into the rhythm of adults. It is a good rhythm, but different. In the quiet since, I’ve done some looking and found out a few things about dogs and who owns them.

The YouGov Dog Ownership Report 2023, lists 56% of American households as having a dog in them, while an MDPI National Dog Survey 2023, reports that in the UK it’s 34%. The World Population Review 2023 puts that into numbers – 90,000,000 million dogs in the USA, and only 12,000,000 in the UK. The Kennel Club in the USA has given the nation’s most popular dog spot to the French Bulldog, while in the UK that spot has gone to the Labrador Retriever. 

And, of course, there is one piece of evidence that has never changed, at least it hasn’t so far – all dogs, wherever they are, begin as puppies, who play and grow … then suddenly they are tired.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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So how was it for you?

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“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit

Boxing Day is sinking away beneath a full moon, as we flop into still spaces, and try to understand how to bring ourselves back towards some sort of everyday where there is no chocolate.

And while we flop, the world turns as it always has done, taking us and our muddle with it.

Here in the south of England the weather has been warmer than normal, warmer in a way that is hard not to notice. But perhaps that is a good thing. Perhaps, the combination of national holiday and unseasonal warmth will help to underline the shift that is happening to the climate. Perhaps it will mark the end of the year that helped to focus our wandering attention on the fractured weather surrounding us. Perhaps.

And if it does, then we’ve still got time to line up a whole new set of resolutions for next week.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Round 5 of the word game – Happy Christmas!

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“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!” Dr Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

I hope Christmas has come with happiness to wherever you are. It’s been busy here.

This is today’s puzzle, and the final word challenge – Santa suspended. Here are three suggestions. Would love to hear yours if you have the time.

“Sending all new, totally awful suggestions, unless someone promptly enters novel data, express delivery”

“Santa ate nine tempting, appealing, super un-resistable sugary puddings easily, next, dangerously exhausted, dangled”

“Somewhere another new trainee appears stuck under stairs, profoundly embarrassed, needing delicate expert direction”

Thanks for playing!

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023